CH-A5-688 568 discloses a crop treatment or conditioner implement for agricultural crops, both with and without a front-mounted mower. Downstream of the treatment device a hood is provided, which guides the mowed crop released from the treatment device downstream in order to discharge it appropriately onto the ground. On the bottom of the hood cover, several symmetrically arranged guide vanes are provided, which scatter the conditioned crop.
It is also known that a so-called swath plate can be mounted in the path of crop flow on the bottom of the hood cover at a site where the hood is wider than at its ordinary discharge end. In this manner a relatively wide swath can be formed.
The problem underlying the invention is seen in the fact that the guide vanes must be disassembled to use a swath plate and vice-versa.
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved crop guide arrangement for use with a crop mowing and/or conditioning implement.
An object of the invention is to provide a crop guide arrangement, for use with a crop mowing and/or conditioning implement, the guide arrangement including guide elements which may be easily selectively placed in the stream of crop created by the mowing and/or conditioning devices so as to alter the width or density of a swath of crop material deposited behind the implement.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide an implement, as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein the guide elements include a swath plate vertically pivotally mounted beneath the top of a hood of the implement, and a guide vane arrangement vertically pivotally mounted above the top of the hood, with the hood and guide vane including slits or slots vertically aligned with respective guide vanes so as to permit the vanes to be moved from a retracted position above the hood to a working position below the swath plate.
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.